(Franklin, PA) — School
districts in Venango County have been approached by Planned Parenthood partner
AccessMatters and asked to establish “health resource centers” in their high
schools. The American Family Association of Pennsylvania (AFA of PA), a
statewide child advocate organization, strongly opposes Planned Parenthood’s use of
high schools to gain access to students.
The AFA of PA has contacted each of the school district superintendents,
started petitions for each school district and attended the Valley Grove school
board meeting on Monday, February 11th.

“We are pleased to report that the Valley Grove school board
made the right decision last night to not go ahead with a plan to allow a so-called
health resource center in the district.
They were concerned with the many unanswered questions about the
proposal, as well as privacy issues. The
AFA of PA has done extensive research on the relationship between Planned Parenthood
and AccessMatters and applaud this right decision by the Valley Grove board,”
commented Diane Gramley, president of the AFA of PA, who attended Monday’s
school board meeting and expressed her concerns.

The concerns of the AFA of PA include the following:

The ‘centers’ would be confidential drop-in centers and parents would not be advised as to what is discussed or distributed to their child

The information gleaned from the child at the clinic would be the sole property of the organization the ‘counselor’ works for – not the school’s – not the parent’s

All counselors at the “centers” would be trained by Access/Matters

The program is for students aged 13-19

The clinics would “provide students with information on referrals to other health resources outside the schools.”

AccessMatters “promotes safer sexual behavior, including access to and correct use of condoms and other safer sex option.

“Our hope is that school board members of the Franklin Area
School District, which approved the partnership with AccessMatters in December
by a vote of 6-2, will come to their senses and not allow this Planned
Parenthood partner access to their students.
Cranberry and Oil City school districts still have decisions to make and
our hope is they will follow Valley Grove’s lead and do what is right for their
students – protect them from Planned Parenthood,” concluded Gramley.